Blog Introduction!

This purpose of this blog is to analyze corporate blogs and their bloggers in an effort to find the most effective uses of blogs at such levels.  The appropriateness of these blogs based on the corporation type will be considered. The designated corporate blogger, or possibly bloggers, is also an extremely relevant aspect to consider.  Whether the CEO of the corporation has their own blog can produce different responses among audiences.  The content of each post, not excluding links to other blogs, video, or audio files, reflect the intended image of the corporation and will also be considered.  Any aspect of a corporation’s blog, whether evident to its readers (discussion topics) or not (ghost writers), inevitably decide the success of the blog and in turn possibly the corporation.  According to David C. Wyld from his journal titled Management 2.0: a primer on blogging for executives, blogging continues to develop as an outlet for integrated communication between consumers, corporations, employees, and many varieties of such. The act of blogging is also thought to be increasingly important and helpful for businesses. As this blog post discusses, creating a corporate blog can be an effective form of marketing for the business. When used properly,  they can distribute useful information more efficiently to those of relevance.

This blog, will name and discuss many different corporate blogs based on the corporation, its audience response, and its bloggers.  The design and structure of this analysis will take the format of answering multiple questions regarding the effectiveness of various corporate blog examples.  With each progressing post, a new corporate blog will be presented for analysis.  In each post, the content of the blog will be dissected through a series of questions.  Ultimately the question to be more understood through this research is: “What does it take to make a corporate blog successful?”

Chrysler Blog: On the Wrong Track

When there is talk of bankruptcy and conflict  about a corporation, some might believe it’s important for those issues to be addressed.  Acknowledging that the incident did occur is vital, especially if the corporation plans to rebuild its reputation.  It seems even more pertinent particularly if others are discussing the topic, as is the case in this article.  So when Chrysler’s blog showed no recognition of the company’s very public and well-known financial crisis, its readers were stunned.

Q:  What kind of content does the blog and/or its post contain?

A:  Many of the blog posts serve mostly as advertisements for future products.  Videos of planned merchandise are included and often accompanied by the usual caption propaganda.  Instead, the corporation should have approached the issue as this video did; addressing it’s past and future.

Viewers of the blog are astonished that the company jumped so quickly back in advertising mode, and righteously so.  Many commented their opinions on the blogs most recent post.  However, this is not the only flaw in Chrysler’s attempt at a blog.  Opportunity for user interactivity is very limited. The blog lacks many of the applications most corporate blogs have grown accustomed to having.  The blog shows no links to user friendly sites such as Facebook, Twitter, or Myspace.  This, in itself, is very surprising.

Q:  How is the blog structured?  How does this effect user interactivity?

A:   This is quite possibly, the most significant flaw of the site. The blog has a clear and evident lack of viewer consideration.  The organization of it’s content shows no clear pattern making it difficult to find any certain section.  Visually, it is unappealing and seemingly unprofessional.  This, of course,  does not help in the pursuit of building up the corporations credibility.  As said in the answer above, the blog contains a very limited amount of applications to allow interactivity.  Most corporate blogs utilize these sites and Chrysler’s decision to not implement them seems irrational.  These sites allow seemingly unlimited amount of exposure and allows customer involvement.  In order to stay competitive and relevant the corporation should reconsider their assessment. These aspects of the site will only discourage consumers from reading its content and prevent their return.

Shedding light on the subject: the Sunlight Foundation Blog

The Sunlight Foundation, a D.C. established organization, has named its mission to create transparency about the government to its citizens.  By making the decisions of congress more available and understandable, this foundation serves to make a more informed nation of people.  A blog is an essential tool in this objective. In order to be an effective channel for users to receive information, the site should be interactive and have a simple structure; nothing too complex.  The whole point of this foundation and its blog is to make government issues understood.  The nature and content the blog contains already has the potential to confuse and overwhelm its viewers.  So the less chaotic the site design is, the better.  The Sunlight Foundation blog has successfully done just that; simple and to the point.

Q:  Who writes the blogs? What are they writing about?

A:  The blog authors are the staff of the foundation and often times also one of its founders, Ellen Miller.  She keeps very involved with the blog, as many of the posts are written by her.  This is an important component of the blog as said before, the purpose of this foundation, is to inform.  Both the staff and the founders should be involved and capable of explaining the process. The posts contain updates about federal government decisions, its voting process, and the background information about each new proposal.  The posts also give possible future implications based on the current situation.  Press releases, such as this one, are available through another page directly from this site.

Q:  What tools does the blog use to increase interactivity among its viewers?

A:  This blog is an excellent example of how to use interactive tools appropriately.  The posts allow comments, an RSS feed, recent projects and document links.  The site also encourages followers on twitter, facebook and myspace.  More specifically, a new application I’ve seen only on this site so far, is the option to retweet a certain blog post.  The tool is direct and simplifies the process of retweeting information.  This is an important implementation because it encourages users to distribute the blogs information elsewhere, among other websites and users.  It’s also extremely relevant in the fact that twitter has become a popular source for information exchange among various demographics.  This opportunity, for any foundation, could produce the positive interest and feedback it seeks.  It almost seems foolish to not use this tool.

Sunlight Foundation Announces $4 Million Investment from Omidyar Network.

Red Cross Chat: Not so chatty

The non-profit organization known as the American Red Cross, has been dedicated to its purpose of helping victims of disasters and other types of suffering for over a hundred years.  It is also the organization most recognized for its efforts of encouraging blood donations.  This organization alone is responsible for the single largest blood supplier in the nation.  The organizations homepage explains its history and establishment in more detail.

This organization has built a credible reputation.  This organization has the established mission of human support.  The blog of this organization, Red Cross Chat, should be full of conversation, collaboration, and insight.  Unfortunately, the site serves more as an informal one-way form of communication.  It is successful at providing the details of the organizations upcoming plans and relief efforts.  As this news release shows, the American Red Cross reacts quickly and efficiently to help others.  However, it is the interactivity among its readers that is the lacking aspect.

Q:  What interactivity options are implemented?

A:  The options available to users are to comment on the posts, subscribe by email, follow the organization on twitter, watch the American Red Cross YouTube Channel, watch the Flickr group, or donate.

So it seems as if the users have every option/channel by which to build their relationship with the red cross.  However, the posts written by the organization could be written in a way that is more inviting and encouraging for user participation.  Looking at the posts, it’s noticeable that almost every one does not have a single comment.  This is not interactivity and it does not fulfill the purpose of creating a blog.  The blog for Delta Air Lines was very successful at doing this by simply implementing questions or suggestions from their readers.  Most of the time, people like to feel as if their opinion is valued.  And since this is an organization maintained by donations, funds, and support, the people are essentially the core that runs it.

Q: Which interactive applications are not used? Or which should be?

A:  Essentially, the blog should be a place that ideas, proposals, and suggestions are constantly being exchanged (the name of the blog IS Red Cross Chat). The possibility of rating posts is appealing because it gives viewers a feeling that their viewpoint is valued and they have some say in how the organization runs. Applying a view count on each post also seems appropriate. (It would reinforce the legitimacy of viewing the site because others are too.  Hence; monkey see, monkey do).

However, the effort to increase user participation will not necessarily be achieved by implementing more applications.  It is more important that they take the same approach of Delta Air Lines.  Ask for it! Tell users you want their input for future organization decisions.  By doing this, valuing the consumer, the opportunity for more interactivity will be there.

Accessibility at its finest: the FedEx Citizenship Blog

Right away, it’s very easy to see that this site caters to its audience.  The FedEx citizenship blog serves a central point that offers a plethora of links for further information regarding all aspects of its company.  Corporate relations, the philanthropic options, and various other activities FedEx implements, are all directly accessible with one click. Though this may sound a little overwhelming or chaotic, the site offers structure and organization, making it easier for the reader to find what they need.  There are even brief bio’s about each of the blog authors, something I haven’t seen done as successfully as FedEx did it.  This personalizes each author by putting a face to the writing.  Making the authors of the site and the employees of FedEx seem more relatable and therefore trustworthy only helps build their relationship with its readers/customers.

Q:  Who are the blog authors?

A:  The authors of the blog are a group of seven individuals employed by FedEx.  Among this group, is the CEO of FedEx.  Although it is noted that Fed Smith is the CEO, there is no particular significance of difference with his posts compared to the others.  As some other corporate blogs may have a separate page for the CEO’s own blog content, FedEx does not.  In this regard, by not drawing attention to his position, there is less pressure to be more involved or knowledgeable than the other blog authors.  This could be a positive.  At the same rate, this could restrict the element of credibility that the CEO of a corporation could provide for such a site.  However, interaction from its readers does not seem stifled by this decision and so change is not suggested.

Q:  What specific content does the blog provide?

A:   As said before, the site allows for direct access to further information about FedEx.  The blog has content consistent to any corporate blog: its mission statement, latest posts, comments, application to follow on twitter, popular posts, and background information.  Aspects of the blog that appear specific to FedEx are described in the four divisions of the post content: Community & Disaster Relief, Economic & Access, Environment & Efficiency, People & Workplace.  All four sections exemplify FedEx’s role in the lives of its consumers.  In the community, it regularly participates and sponsors philanthropic events. One specific example of this is a National Truck Driving Championship set to be held in mid-August. By positioning themselves as a part of consumers lives, FedEx maintains an operable relationship.  FedEx is successful in considering what their audiences/customers want in a delivery service, and therefore allows their customers to easily incorporate FedEx into their daily lives.

Q:  How does the site allow for user interactivity?

A:  The site utilizes a number of applications to encourage participation.  Each post allows its viewers to rate its content out of five stars.  For each different post the number of views is shown along with the number of comments. Users are also able to subscribe to RSS feeds through a section titled “most popular posts” with the term described as popular to mean those rated highly by its users.  Users that might be interested in the governing of the corporation can download a PDF FedEx Citizen Report directly from the Citizenship Blog homepage. FedEx has successfully provided its audience ease of accessibility and company transparency.

Destination Delta

Delta Airlines has created a blog with a very straightforward approach: to give its customers more insight into their company.  Posts give consumers a look at the decisions Delta is making as well as offering opportunities for consumers to give their input.  For example, Delta Airlines will now be offering ice cream to its customers during the months of july and september.  This particular post introducing this implement asks which flavor is preferred.  Almost every post made by the Delta blog authors asks some question, promotes some sort of involvement from its reader.  This is a crucial proponent of this blog and could be the reasoning for its measured success. 

The blog site also links to its other social media applications such as its Flickr photostream, twitter, and their youtube channel. Close to these links is another opportunity for interaction with its consumers.  Story ideas are invited and there is an available link for customers to give their input in this category, as well. 

Q:  Who is writing the blog posts? 

A: There appears to be a specified “blog team” that composes the blog content.  These authors also seem to hold positions under Delta employment as general managers, promotional marketer, archives manager, and the external affairs and community relations manager, just to name a few.  However, there is no indication that the CEO has any involvement in this blog.  This is not necessarily a bad thing.  As we have seen, CEO’s may sometimes get involved in the corporate blog, but often times they show a much slower response and are overall less involved than the other blog authors.  Though this is likely unintended, it can appear as if the CEO has somewhat neglected its audience; the consumer.  So, in this case, the CEO not partaking in the blog maintenance is probably a good move. 

Q:  What inside content does the blog provide/what is being discussed?

A:   The blog contains pretty much what it states it would; updates within the corporation’s decisions.  The status of enabling Wi-Fi on airlines is one post with the flights and dates on which this will take place.  As said before, the blogs are also very successful in trying to get their readers involved.  Each post ends with a question or asks for suggestions on what they want or prefer.  This involvement also continues in the blog comments.  This corporation blog is the best I’ve seen yet with responding back to its readers comments.  Although, not every comment is immediately addressed, those comments with questions pending usually get answered.  This is crucial.  This shows the reader the company does still have the consumers interest at heart and can relate at personal levels.  

Q:  How does the content of the blog compare to the content on the corporation’s Twitter page?

A:  Although the information is similar and they compliment one another as well as link back to each other, the twitter serves as a more brief, random fact.  However, the twitter should also be updated at a much more frequent rate than the blog; ideally multiple times a day.  The more involved Delta gets on Twitter, the better. If they are not posting random interesting facts, they should at least be twittering to their followers.  As of right now, this is not the case.  In my opinion, they need to increase their involvement on twitter.  By doing this, by appearing more involved and interacting more with their consumers or their “followers”, information exchange will be more successful.  The transparency that Delta has stated they hope to achieve can only happen with increased information exchange between their consumers. 

Delta Vacations and NWA WorldVacations Combine to Offer Travelers the Best Selection and Prices on Vacation Packages. 

Zappos: Much more than shoes

Zappos, a company originally known for its shoe collection, has implemented a blog that shows it has much more to offer.  The blog posts have a seemingly limitless range of topics; from employee happy hours, to celebrity interviews, and even the introduction of friendship tees. There is promise for this blog with its laid back approach, its easy conversational presentation and the various discussion topics. The site shows a successful evolution to building and maintaining customer involvement. It has become more than just a site for shoes; but a site for its consumers.

Q:  Who are the bloggers?

A:    There are numerous blog authors for the many different blog titles: Inside Zappos, Fashion Culture, Couture, Parents, Etc. The Zappos CEO and CFO-COO are also two of the blog authors with their own section on the Blog’s homepage: CEO and COO Blog

Q: How involved do the customers seem?

A: In regard to the amount of comments posted by customers on the main page, it seems they are not as involved.  However, it should also be noted that this does not take into account those consumers who may not necessarily post but do visit the site frequently.  More importantly, there are many comments posted by consumers on the CEO and COO blog page.  This seems appropriate as the content of this page is more relevant to the company and possibility requires further explanation or questioning. An even more likely reason for why this page has more comments/questions than the main blog page, could be due to the credibility of a CEO when viewed by a consumer.  When a more valid and thorough answer is sought, the head of the company should know the complete, most accurate response. This possible assumption generally speaks well for Zappos.  In a time when the economy is down and most reputations of CEO’s are being viewed negatively and with distrust,  Zappos maintains at least some credibility.

Q: How effective does the CEO and COO blog seem?

A:  Each post made in this section of the site is very elaborate and intuitive and obviously very time consuming.  However, the amount of posts done are far less than the homepage blog.  The last post created was nearly six months ago.  Not staying up-to-date with the blog makes a statement about the CEO and the COO.  If the two were not going to be able to post regularly and often, as it is a crucial time commitment,  implementing this section on the site at all should have been reconsidered.

The Search is on for Today’s Household CEO

Gear Shift into the FastLane: GM’s blog

As the recent scandals and controversies have surrounded the name of the General Motors company and inevitably tainted its reputation, its CEO and employees are clearly looking to re-establish its credibility.  Through promises to renovate themselves while considering their consumers first and foremost, the need for a blog is undeniable.  Their consumers’ questions and concerns should be addressed if the company has any hopes to remain relevant.  Interactivity with their consumers is crucial now more than ever.  Confidence in the company needs to be rebuilt, namely, by establishing transparency. The flawed decisions of their past should be addressed to bring legitimacy for its new claim of stability and their promises for a changed future.  The following question and answer format further elaborate on the content of GM’s blog site:

Q:  Who is managing this blog?

A: According to the contact page of the site, questions that would not be posted on the blog can be answered through contact of the director of global communications technology.  Other comments or questions that are posted on the blog are reviewed for relevancy before allowing the post by the blog editor.

Q:  What employees are posting on the blog?

A: There is no single established author for the blog.  The writers of each post differ with each new content.  The CEO, Fritz Henderson, is also involved in writing some posts and even occasionally offers scheduled webchats for users to view. According to the work of Cho & Huh in Corporate Blogs as a Form of eWom advertising, a successful corporate blog is more likely when specific features such as establishing credibility of the site and maintaining communication that encourages consumer interaction.  As the CEO of GM, Henderson, stands to be viewed more positively, more credible, and most importantly his posts will be as well. Other blog authors include vehicle engineers and various GM vice presidents, to name a few.

Q: The second important feature of a successful blog mentioned in the last answer, is stated as maintaining communication flow between bloggers and their audiences with content that invites involvement and interaction. How much interactivity is seen between General Motor’s and its blog audience:

A:  Although GM’s blog is seemingly a two-way form of communication, the interactivity seems to stop at one end early on.  After many posts from those at GM, consumers respond by commenting or asking questions.  Very rarely are these questions get answered or their comments remarked on.  This abrupt disconnection from the company’s side is a very ineffective way to establish genuine relationships with their consumers.  GM should work on keeping up with the blogs, more specifically the company should at least acknowledge most consumers that posts.  Based on the type of audience the blog is created for, internal or external,  certain procedures should be utilized for an increased chance of an effectiveness, as noted in the studies of Cox, Martinez, and Quinlan in Blogs & the Corporation.  These specified proposals for success explain the importance of useful,relevant, and transparent blog content, and the importance of blog maintenance via partial supervision, consumer acknowledgment, and frequent response.  Reader acknowledgment and feedback is essential for trust building. Without either, the relationship seems more impersonal, like a marketing ploy, and loyal readers will decline.